If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed.
To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Lost your password? Questions? Email admin @ theologyweb.com

TWeb had an OS update go bad and had to be restored to a previous state. We've lost two days worth of posts so you all get a do-over.

Yes. This is one source, others will be cited. The current research recommends people maintain a balenced diet without Calcium supplements. The problem is what is a balanced diet. The old food triangle high in dairy and meat protein is not recommended. What is recommended is lower meat protein, and dairy, and higher in vegetables and vegetable protein as natural Calcium sources. Also eliminate high glycemic carbs such as sugar, white flour, potatoes, white rice, and corn.

After analyzing 10 years of medical tests on more than 2,700 people in a federally funded heart disease study, researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine and elsewhere conclude that taking calcium in the form of supplements may raise the risk of plaque buildup in arteries and heart damage, although a diet high in calcium-rich foods appears be protective.

In a report on the research, published Oct. 10 in the Journal of the American Heart Association, the researchers caution that their work only documents an association between calcium supplements and atherosclerosis, and does not prove cause and effect.

But they say the results add to growing scientific concerns about the potential harms of supplements, and they urge a consultation with a knowledgeable physician before using calcium supplements. An estimated 43 percent of American adult men and women take a supplement that includes calcium, according the National Institutes of Health.

“When it comes to using vitamin and mineral supplements, particularly calcium supplements being taken for bone health, many Americans think that more is always better,” says Erin Michos, M.D., M.H.S., associate director of preventive cardiology and associate professor of medicine at the Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Heart Disease at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “But our study adds to the body of evidence that excess calcium in the form of supplements may harm the heart and vascular system.”

The researchers were motivated to look at the effects of calcium on the heart and vascular system because studies already showed that “ingested calcium supplements — particularly in older people — don’t make it to the skeleton or get completely excreted in the urine, so they must be accumulating in the body’s soft tissues,” says nutritionist John Anderson, Ph.D., professor emeritus of nutrition at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Gillings School of Global Public Health and a co-author of the report. Scientists also knew that as a person ages, calcium-based plaque builds up in the body’s main blood vessel, the aorta and other arteries, impeding blood flow and increasing the risk of heart attack.

The investigators looked at detailed information from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, a long-running research project funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, which included more than 6,000 people seen at six research universities, including Johns Hopkins. Their study focused on 2,742 of these participants who completed dietary questionnaires and two CT scans spanning 10 years apart.

The participants chosen for this study ranged in age from 45 to 84, and 51 percent were female. Forty-one percent were white, 26 percent were African-American, 22 percent were Hispanic and 12 percent were Chinese. At the study’s onset in 2000, all participants answered a 120-part questionnaire about their dietary habits to determine how much calcium they took in by eating dairy products; leafy greens; calcium-enriched foods, like cereals; and other calcium-rich foods. Separately, the researchers inventoried what drugs and supplements each participant took on a daily basis. The investigators used cardiac CT scans to measure participants’ coronary artery calcium scores, a measure of calcification in the heart’s arteries and a marker of heart disease risk when the score is above zero. Initially, 1,175 participants showed plaque in their heart arteries. The coronary artery calcium tests were repeated 10 years later to assess newly developing or worsening coronary heart disease.

Calcium Magnesium, Zinc and Vitamin D tend to be necessary to absorb one another. That's one reason why in physician approved supplements like Caltrate with minerals you find all 4. Most Americans eat a fast food diet which is why we don't tend to get enough. The FDA and my plate suggests 6 oz grain servings, 5-6oz protein, 2-3 cups of vegetables and 2 Cups of fruit. For Dairy or Dairy substitutes (Soy etc.) The suggestion is 3 cups. If you can't have dairy look for something fortified with vitamins A D and calcium, Soy, rice milk coconut milk, Hemp milk, goat etc. Fats and oils are 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons. Eating these should give you the nutrients you need unless you have medications or other special needs in which case supplements are probably needed and should be cleared with a dr. Diets can be modified for activity and medical conditions like diabetes, weight loss, etc.

Per day? Maybe one glass of milk, and not as much as that since my late teens. I rarely eat cheese, nor milk, nor yogurt, although since my diagnosis I have upped my dairy, mostly with yogurt. Now I drink almond milk instead of dairy. Gave up on the yogurt even several months ago.

I am not lactose intolerance, just don't like dairy.

This week I had my first glass of non-chocolate milk in over 25 years. I'm more of a whey protein drink kind of girl.